About 30 students will have to get adjusted to a new roommate and mattress in the spring semester.

Maintenance workers discovered a leak in the heating pipe in Headlee Hall, which will require extensive work and require heat in the building to be shut down, according to a letter distributed to Headlee residents on Nov. 21. The letter does not state whether or not the gas leak may be a safety concern to students living in Headlee right now.

“Right now maintenance is able to temporarily stabilize the problem, but the condition of the pipe is unpredictable,” read the letter, written by Josh Doak, director of housing.

Efforts to contact Doak were not successful.

According to the letter, usually a patch can be placed on piping to fix any leak, but the pipe that needs to be replaced has “severe damage that will require extensive work,” it said.

The building will be closed for the entire spring semester, leaving residents to shuffle into other buildings on campus, including East Hall, Blaine Hall and McCormick Hall.

While students won’t have to move their belongings until they return from holiday break, the letter instructed students to move anything out that may be susceptible to cold temperatures, as the building will receive little to no heat over the break.

Kelsey Akin, a junior French education major from Neosho, planned to live in Headlee all year, but now hopes to avoid the transition to another building and will move into an apartment off-campus.

She hopes that the school will waive a $400 breach of contract fee, but thinks even if they won’t it will be cheaper to move off campus. If housing won’t waive the $400 fee, she says it will be up to her parents whether she’ll be able to afford to move out.

“I know it sounds like a cop out,” she said. “But it’s the way it is.”

Akin and her roommates brought in additional furniture to make the room more “homey,” and regrets having to move it all again.

“Our apartment tends to be one of the homiest on campus,” she said. “We put all this work on this apartment thinking we were going to have it for a year and now we have to move out now.”

Akin isn’t spending too much time dwelling on the move, though, and is looking for a new place to call home.

“That’s the hardest thing, now I’m scrambling,” she said. “Here in 45 minutes I’m going to go look for an apartment.”

Kyle Maloney, a junior theater major from St. Charles, will be moving somewhere else in the spring, but doesn’t know where yet.

Maloney wondered aloud walking back to his apartment why it would take so long to fix, and why the heating problem can’t be fixed over break.

“I don’t understand why they need a whole semester to fix a pipe,” he said.

Maloney lives with a group of guys he’s known since freshmen year. Maloney was told that they would likely to be relocated to either Blaine or East hall.

Maloney said having to move back to Blaine Hall, where he lived freshmen year wouldn’t be “the ideal place to live.” According to Maloney, once you’ve lived at anywhere other than Blaine it’s tough going back.

Students who are forced to move to Blaine would pay less than they’re currently paying in Headlee, though they would have to get accustomed to some differences.

Residents in Blaine use a community bathroom as opposed to one shared by three or four roommates. Additionally, they’d give up access to a kitchenette and a shared living room.

Headlee residents with questions or preferences for their roommates in the spring can e-mail Josh Doak at [email protected].